A report released by the ACLU–CT,(Monday, November, 17 2008), raises questions about violations to students' rights to an education, as well as the influence of racial bias in decisions affecting student discipline, specifically suspensions and expulsions.
The report, "Dignity Denied: The Effect of "Zero Tolerance" Policies on Students' Human Rights, A Case Study of New Haven, CT, Public Schools," suggests that the 'zero-tolerance" policies influencing school discipline may serve to facilitate the "school to prison pipeline."
Such a disturbing report requires investigation of how school discipline policies and practices affect the incidence of suspensions and expulsions, and the impact on Black students.
Preliminary information gathering tasks have been delegated to an ad hoc committee; a report will be forthcoming early in 2009.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
School days: Obama and McCain at NAACP Convention 2008
During the 99th annual convention of the NAACP ten days ago, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama outlined their education policies to the nearly 3,000 delegates gathered in Cincinnati. Sen. John McCain promoted school choice and vouchers to help parents defray the costs of private schooling. “What is the value of access to a failing school?” he asked rhetorically. The NAACP does not support vouchers. It believes that school choice depletes public schools of the brightest students and leaves children and the support for public schools behind.
McCain said it is time to “shake off old ways and to demand new reforms in education.” Some of the reforms he mentioned were to give more spending discretion to principals and to establish new public virtual charter schools and online courses focusing on math and science. McCain also endorsed alternative certification for professionals transitioning into the teaching profession. Critical of teacher certification as a measure of teaching ability, McCain said “You can be a Nobel laureate and not be qualified to teach.” He said that parents only want “schools that are safe and teachers that are confident,” and he pledged to recruit new college graduates into teaching who ranked at the top of their classes. “We need their fine minds and good hearts,” he said to a largely polite but unconvinced audience.
In a surprise question and answer session following his remarks, McCain took questions on certification and pay raises for Headstart teachers. McCain disapproved of one delegate’s recommendation that Headstart teachers be paid higher wages. Instead, he called for greater scrutiny of teacher effectiveness in the school preparatory program before wage increases should be considered.
Sen. Barack Obama, in his address to the NAACP convention, pledged to make sure all children get a “world class education” from childbirth to college graduation. He told a receptive NAACP audience that the country needs to “uphold the ideal of public education,” but also to “fix” our public schools. Obama said his strategy would include recruiting an “army of new quality teachers,” increasing their pay and giving them more support. Further, he would provide tax credits of $4000 for college bound students.
The differences in the candidates positions were not only based on policy but approach. Obama presented his education strategy in light of chronic social ills such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, increased crime and violence—problems that contribute to poor academic performance, high drop out rates and, too often, incarceration.
As a corollary to his education plan, Obama pledged to expand job programs, keep police on neighborhood beats, and build on successful programs such as the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City—a highly regarded program that focuses on education and social issues to “rebuild the fabric” of communities in decline. These ideas are essential to any education policy aimed at reviving a vital public school education today in our country and in Greater New Haven in particular.
Among Greater New Haven students, performance on the Connecticut Mastery Test released mid-July revealed both significant and modest gains in reading, math, writing, and science. While a gain is a gain, it is evident that more needs to be done to obtain and sustain greater academic achievement by all students.
Redeeming public school education in the region will require institutional reforms that increase school funding, improve teacher quality, stem drop out rates among other issues. At the same time, reform measures are need to strengthen significant factors that influence academic performance such as parental involvement and mentoring, and to reverse debilitating factors such as joblessness or lack of affordable housing.
The Greater New Haven NAACP education committee has committed itself to advocate for equal funding, access and resources for education, quality certified teachers, a rigorous and culturally balanced curriculum. Every one who believes in these goals is urged to join the NAACP in our effort to bolster public schools in Greater New Haven and inspire our children to use education to help them realize their greatest potential.
Lisa Monroe is chairperson of the Education Committee for the Greater New Haven NAACP. She can be reached at ctnaacpedu@gmail.com.
McCain said it is time to “shake off old ways and to demand new reforms in education.” Some of the reforms he mentioned were to give more spending discretion to principals and to establish new public virtual charter schools and online courses focusing on math and science. McCain also endorsed alternative certification for professionals transitioning into the teaching profession. Critical of teacher certification as a measure of teaching ability, McCain said “You can be a Nobel laureate and not be qualified to teach.” He said that parents only want “schools that are safe and teachers that are confident,” and he pledged to recruit new college graduates into teaching who ranked at the top of their classes. “We need their fine minds and good hearts,” he said to a largely polite but unconvinced audience.
In a surprise question and answer session following his remarks, McCain took questions on certification and pay raises for Headstart teachers. McCain disapproved of one delegate’s recommendation that Headstart teachers be paid higher wages. Instead, he called for greater scrutiny of teacher effectiveness in the school preparatory program before wage increases should be considered.
Sen. Barack Obama, in his address to the NAACP convention, pledged to make sure all children get a “world class education” from childbirth to college graduation. He told a receptive NAACP audience that the country needs to “uphold the ideal of public education,” but also to “fix” our public schools. Obama said his strategy would include recruiting an “army of new quality teachers,” increasing their pay and giving them more support. Further, he would provide tax credits of $4000 for college bound students.
The differences in the candidates positions were not only based on policy but approach. Obama presented his education strategy in light of chronic social ills such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, increased crime and violence—problems that contribute to poor academic performance, high drop out rates and, too often, incarceration.
As a corollary to his education plan, Obama pledged to expand job programs, keep police on neighborhood beats, and build on successful programs such as the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City—a highly regarded program that focuses on education and social issues to “rebuild the fabric” of communities in decline. These ideas are essential to any education policy aimed at reviving a vital public school education today in our country and in Greater New Haven in particular.
Among Greater New Haven students, performance on the Connecticut Mastery Test released mid-July revealed both significant and modest gains in reading, math, writing, and science. While a gain is a gain, it is evident that more needs to be done to obtain and sustain greater academic achievement by all students.
Redeeming public school education in the region will require institutional reforms that increase school funding, improve teacher quality, stem drop out rates among other issues. At the same time, reform measures are need to strengthen significant factors that influence academic performance such as parental involvement and mentoring, and to reverse debilitating factors such as joblessness or lack of affordable housing.
The Greater New Haven NAACP education committee has committed itself to advocate for equal funding, access and resources for education, quality certified teachers, a rigorous and culturally balanced curriculum. Every one who believes in these goals is urged to join the NAACP in our effort to bolster public schools in Greater New Haven and inspire our children to use education to help them realize their greatest potential.
Lisa Monroe is chairperson of the Education Committee for the Greater New Haven NAACP. She can be reached at ctnaacpedu@gmail.com.
Labels:
Education
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Black men voicing change
I have been fascinated by a number of Black men speaking on public radio about the change they should make since Barack Obama was elected our 44th president. They have said things like, "It's time for [Black men] to step up now. The whole world is watching us." "We have got to get ourselves together. Time to pull up the pants and get busy."
Other colleagues and friends I have talked with have heard the same things, with similar modest awe, jsut as we have responded to so many political and social implications that have surrounded Sen. Obama's presence in the election beginning on that February day in Springfield when he declared his candidacy for the highest office in this land.
This morning, on NBC's The Chris Matthews Show, NPR journalist Michelle Norris said that, in addition to the big picture change, she was hearing about change at the street level, change in Black men in light of Obama’s election.
Michele said that at the barbershop one barber said there were already 12 men who had come in to have their dreads cut off. Others are pulling up their pants.
Typical of a lot of mainstream coverage of the election, Chris Matthews weighed in with a off-target interpretation of Black men's behavior.
Matthews responded by saying, “Yes, they are ready to invest in America.”
Michelle Norris corrected Matthews analysis, saying, “They feel America has invested in them.”
The challenges President-elect Barack Obama faces loom large, none larger than dealing with the economy. But I think Obama was prophetic when he said in the last debate against Sen. McCain that it is often the challenges or threats that a president cannot anticipate that end up shaping his presidency the most.
Poverty, deep cultural disillusion and divide, urban violence, the state of our public schools--including the strength of our families and their commitmet to academic excellence of their children--are in the mix of the bubbling cauldron underneath the big picture issues. These issues are also America's infrastructure and will have to be revitalized and redeemed in order to call this nation back from edge of the economic or military gloom threatening over our heads. As president, Barack Obama will have to engage his considerable diplomacy to lead this nation across these fault lines. This is our time to bridge these longstanding chasms in our country, and we can, if Obama was right, that "we are the ones we have been waiting for."
Other colleagues and friends I have talked with have heard the same things, with similar modest awe, jsut as we have responded to so many political and social implications that have surrounded Sen. Obama's presence in the election beginning on that February day in Springfield when he declared his candidacy for the highest office in this land.
This morning, on NBC's The Chris Matthews Show, NPR journalist Michelle Norris said that, in addition to the big picture change, she was hearing about change at the street level, change in Black men in light of Obama’s election.
Michele said that at the barbershop one barber said there were already 12 men who had come in to have their dreads cut off. Others are pulling up their pants.
Typical of a lot of mainstream coverage of the election, Chris Matthews weighed in with a off-target interpretation of Black men's behavior.
Matthews responded by saying, “Yes, they are ready to invest in America.”
Michelle Norris corrected Matthews analysis, saying, “They feel America has invested in them.”
The challenges President-elect Barack Obama faces loom large, none larger than dealing with the economy. But I think Obama was prophetic when he said in the last debate against Sen. McCain that it is often the challenges or threats that a president cannot anticipate that end up shaping his presidency the most.
Poverty, deep cultural disillusion and divide, urban violence, the state of our public schools--including the strength of our families and their commitmet to academic excellence of their children--are in the mix of the bubbling cauldron underneath the big picture issues. These issues are also America's infrastructure and will have to be revitalized and redeemed in order to call this nation back from edge of the economic or military gloom threatening over our heads. As president, Barack Obama will have to engage his considerable diplomacy to lead this nation across these fault lines. This is our time to bridge these longstanding chasms in our country, and we can, if Obama was right, that "we are the ones we have been waiting for."
Making Change
Journalist and CNN commentator Roland Martin challenged an audience in Hartford, CT on Friday, November 15th to follow through on a slogan of the Presidential campaign in which Obama would say to his supporters, "we are the ones we have been waiting for."
Martin asked the audience members what change they are committed to making in their homes, neighborhoods, community? When President-elect Obama takes the oath of President of the United States, Martin asked, "what oath will you take on January 20th" to bring about change?
"The only people who get what they want are the people who believe," Martin said.
How will you take a personal role in bringing about the "change" promoted by President-elect Barack Obama?
Martin asked the audience members what change they are committed to making in their homes, neighborhoods, community? When President-elect Obama takes the oath of President of the United States, Martin asked, "what oath will you take on January 20th" to bring about change?
"The only people who get what they want are the people who believe," Martin said.
How will you take a personal role in bringing about the "change" promoted by President-elect Barack Obama?
Labels:
Self-determination
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
First thoughts on Barack Obama elected President
Barack Obama elected president
Two years of ardent support, hope, desire and belief culminated in those four simple but profound words blazoned across a television screen shortly after 11 p.m. last night.
It was those words that connected this long and improbable campaign, as Obama might call it, this noble and righteous crusade, to win the official title and more, the immensity of the Office of President of the United States.
What is impressive about Obama's election victory is the broad coalition of persons who supported him. An overwhelming African American vote certainly, about 95%, but also and for the first time, a monumental percentage of white voters stood for an African American candidate, even though a venerable white candidate was his opposition. Obama garnered an estimated 43% of the white vote. That percentage was not the majority, but it represents a long-awaited maturing of the white electorate who finally put off the long cloak of knee-jerk racial prejudice to actually deliberate on the choice they had between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. And not only deliberate but act with courage on their convictions.
In this regard, Sen. Obama's victory is as much a transformative moment for white Americans as for Black Americans.
Afterall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream for his four children "to one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" was a liberation dream for white Americans to transcend the bondage of bigotry and to act on the democratic ideals of America's founding fathers who declared that "all men are created equal."
Additionally, part of Sen. Obama's broad coalition included about 66% of Latino votes, according to news reports, as well as boosts from younger voters, white women, including those Hillary Clinton dubbed "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling.
So Sen. Obama's sustained and successful coaltion has already proven the viability of his most appealing platform for me, which is that we are not a nation of blue and red states, but we are the United States of America. And that American are in the fight together to improve our country and to be a positive influence beyond our borders.
On that fundamental premise President Obama must lead our nation, and among the priorities of his sdministation must be a reform and revival of public school education in this country. Tackling that behemoth will be a test of Sen. Obama's vision for domestic change. That's because the factors involved in rescuing public school education include a renewal of family values, respect and inclusion of cultural identity, equitable funding, eradicating the plague of social ills visited by high unemployment, drug abuse, poor housing, inadequate health care, and the lack of political will to champion a fair and balanced curriculum and a standard of accountability among all stakeholders in public education.
Across these issues are drawn the deeply entrenched lines of racial and class divide that lie yet unchanged beneath the euphoria of this justifiably proud stage in America's maturing democracy.
The hope now is that President Obama will lead us across these lines -- and that Americans of all stripes who enthusiastically supported his candidacy will follow his direction, and when necessary, even help to lead us further across divides into a truly free and fair democratic Promised Land.
Two years of ardent support, hope, desire and belief culminated in those four simple but profound words blazoned across a television screen shortly after 11 p.m. last night.
It was those words that connected this long and improbable campaign, as Obama might call it, this noble and righteous crusade, to win the official title and more, the immensity of the Office of President of the United States.
What is impressive about Obama's election victory is the broad coalition of persons who supported him. An overwhelming African American vote certainly, about 95%, but also and for the first time, a monumental percentage of white voters stood for an African American candidate, even though a venerable white candidate was his opposition. Obama garnered an estimated 43% of the white vote. That percentage was not the majority, but it represents a long-awaited maturing of the white electorate who finally put off the long cloak of knee-jerk racial prejudice to actually deliberate on the choice they had between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. And not only deliberate but act with courage on their convictions.
In this regard, Sen. Obama's victory is as much a transformative moment for white Americans as for Black Americans.
Afterall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream for his four children "to one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" was a liberation dream for white Americans to transcend the bondage of bigotry and to act on the democratic ideals of America's founding fathers who declared that "all men are created equal."
Additionally, part of Sen. Obama's broad coalition included about 66% of Latino votes, according to news reports, as well as boosts from younger voters, white women, including those Hillary Clinton dubbed "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling.
So Sen. Obama's sustained and successful coaltion has already proven the viability of his most appealing platform for me, which is that we are not a nation of blue and red states, but we are the United States of America. And that American are in the fight together to improve our country and to be a positive influence beyond our borders.
On that fundamental premise President Obama must lead our nation, and among the priorities of his sdministation must be a reform and revival of public school education in this country. Tackling that behemoth will be a test of Sen. Obama's vision for domestic change. That's because the factors involved in rescuing public school education include a renewal of family values, respect and inclusion of cultural identity, equitable funding, eradicating the plague of social ills visited by high unemployment, drug abuse, poor housing, inadequate health care, and the lack of political will to champion a fair and balanced curriculum and a standard of accountability among all stakeholders in public education.
Across these issues are drawn the deeply entrenched lines of racial and class divide that lie yet unchanged beneath the euphoria of this justifiably proud stage in America's maturing democracy.
The hope now is that President Obama will lead us across these lines -- and that Americans of all stripes who enthusiastically supported his candidacy will follow his direction, and when necessary, even help to lead us further across divides into a truly free and fair democratic Promised Land.
Labels:
Politics 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Early bird voters
Voters lined up in New Haven, and by now in every state in the nation, to cast their ballots in this historic election 2008.
Two educators, Lensley Gay and Susan Monroe, arrived at their polling center before 6:00 a.m. in Westville, well before the school day began in order to participate in the expected record-setting turnout, projected at 130 million total voters by the day's end.
Susan said that she was determined to get out early to vote, and Lensley encouraged everyone to "keep praying" through the day.
The mood among voters on this early morning could be described as subdued enthusiasm. They huddled closely to one another in a single file line, drawn to each others' warmth, and sense of unity, in the hazy, dew-laden school parking lot.
Two educators, Lensley Gay and Susan Monroe, arrived at their polling center before 6:00 a.m. in Westville, well before the school day began in order to participate in the expected record-setting turnout, projected at 130 million total voters by the day's end.
Susan said that she was determined to get out early to vote, and Lensley encouraged everyone to "keep praying" through the day.
The mood among voters on this early morning could be described as subdued enthusiasm. They huddled closely to one another in a single file line, drawn to each others' warmth, and sense of unity, in the hazy, dew-laden school parking lot.
Labels:
Politics 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Powell endorses Obama
Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president on Meet the Press this morning gives Obama the buttressing he needs around the issue of his weak experience on foreign policy and lack of military cachet, especially vital to him in these waning, gut-checking days of the campaign. Even Joe Biden couldn’t deliver what Powell can and does. That’s good news for Sen. Obama.
Even more impressive, Republican Colin Powell condemned the outright lies and racist utterances promoted by McCain supporters, which his friend Republican Sen. John McCain himself has only passively disavowed.
Gen. Powell was direct in assessing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications to be president on day one, and he was pointed in questioning John McCain’s judgment in selecting Palin as a running mate.
His forthright critique of Sen. McCain’s faltering campaign does much to restore the good standing of former Secretary of State Colin Powell among many who are still stung with disappointment from his team player performance as a cabinet member in President George Bush’s administration.
Powell’s endorsement of Obama has been speculated on, if not anticipated, since the protracted ending to the Democratic primary last April and May and June. By breaking his silence about his support for Obama, Powell quietly restored the faith and respect I had for him as a reasoned and deliberate thinker, a fair and reliable judge of any issue threatening our national defense and our reputation around the world. Some of that faith I had in Powell was undermined by his soldier’s loyalty to Bush and his attempt to justify his pre-emptive attack on Iraq, based on unverified accounts of presence of weapons of mass destruction.
Now that he has acted independently to express his preference for Democrat Sen. Obama for president and, particularly, because he has rightly denounced and rejected the unchecked racist pronouncements by McCain supporters, Gen. Colin Powell re-emerges as an appealing figure who many Americans once had the audacity to hope would seek the presidency and bring the country together across racial and party lines. It is worth noting at this already historic moment that there are two men of African heritage on the national political scene who have enormous popular appeal among the masses to become president of the United States. Powell missed his opportunity to be our nation’s once and future king, but his well reasoned argument for supporting Obama puts him in an influential position to be a kingmaker.
Even more impressive, Republican Colin Powell condemned the outright lies and racist utterances promoted by McCain supporters, which his friend Republican Sen. John McCain himself has only passively disavowed.
Gen. Powell was direct in assessing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications to be president on day one, and he was pointed in questioning John McCain’s judgment in selecting Palin as a running mate.
His forthright critique of Sen. McCain’s faltering campaign does much to restore the good standing of former Secretary of State Colin Powell among many who are still stung with disappointment from his team player performance as a cabinet member in President George Bush’s administration.
Powell’s endorsement of Obama has been speculated on, if not anticipated, since the protracted ending to the Democratic primary last April and May and June. By breaking his silence about his support for Obama, Powell quietly restored the faith and respect I had for him as a reasoned and deliberate thinker, a fair and reliable judge of any issue threatening our national defense and our reputation around the world. Some of that faith I had in Powell was undermined by his soldier’s loyalty to Bush and his attempt to justify his pre-emptive attack on Iraq, based on unverified accounts of presence of weapons of mass destruction.
Now that he has acted independently to express his preference for Democrat Sen. Obama for president and, particularly, because he has rightly denounced and rejected the unchecked racist pronouncements by McCain supporters, Gen. Colin Powell re-emerges as an appealing figure who many Americans once had the audacity to hope would seek the presidency and bring the country together across racial and party lines. It is worth noting at this already historic moment that there are two men of African heritage on the national political scene who have enormous popular appeal among the masses to become president of the United States. Powell missed his opportunity to be our nation’s once and future king, but his well reasoned argument for supporting Obama puts him in an influential position to be a kingmaker.
Labels:
Politics 2008
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